Both sides will have cause to blame officials for coming away goal-less, but Yeovil can also look at some early missed chances to explain why their superiority was not converted into a victory.
Within the first two minutes, Yeovil had two great chances, as Matt Hayfield glanced a header wide, then Warren Patmore didn't get enough power behind his to beat Weymouth keeper Potter. The home side created little at the other end, their best opportunity came when Dean Chandler let Peter Knox in with a glorious opportunity, but he pulled his shot across the face of the goal. Chandler was also involved when the defence failed to clear an earlier ball, leaving Mark Gammon with a chance from the edge of the box. Warren Patmore had another opportunity half-way through the first period, but his left-foot shot was too weak to trouble Potter.
Although Weymouth weren't really creating much up front, they were lively in the middle, and also had an excellent defender in Alex Browne. He was to save them a few times in the second half when Yeovil stepped up their game. Browne made a superb intervention when Hayfield looked set to knock in a David Piper cross. Only a few minutes into the second period Hale had to block a Patmore header on the line, and then Terry Skiverton headed just over from a Jamie Pitman free-kick.
The officials made some strange decisions, as Weymouth got away with apparent attempts to slice Jamie Pitman in two, yet players of both side were later cautioned for relatively trivial offences. 
But the referee and one of his assistants really made their mark after just over an hour of the game. Firstly he angered Yeovil, as Paul Tisdale's superb pass put away Ben Smith, who finished with style, only for the 'goal' to be wiped out by a spurious off-side decision. And as it seemed that Weymouth would only score if gifted a goal, we nearly saw exactly that: Just two minutes after Smith's disallowed effort, Dean Chandler inexplicably reached up with his hand in the Yeovil area and seemed to palm a cross away, but the home side were denied their cast-iron penalty claim.
More good chances came for Yeovil late on, Rob Cousins managing an 'air shot' on the edge of the area, then the follow-up being well blocked by Alex Browne.
So, without running away from the game, Yeovil should really have won this, and will surely finish the job in the replay, Tuesday 30th November, 7:45pm at Huish Park.
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The teams come out to a 'ticker-tape' welcome in front of a good crowd of just over 4,000.
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The trade-mark flare made a welcome return: until it was thrown onto the pitch during play. Oh dear. The club could be in trouble for this one. |
